CORSER THE MASTER AND COMMANDER AFTER BRANDS DRIES OUT WALLS OF TROY UNTROUBLED BY EARLY ATTACKS The pre-race confidence of Troy Corser was evident to all who watched him prepare for the Brands Hatch race weekend. At first time of asking he was the rider who had kept most of his power dry after an early morning rainy start, easing to an impressive early psychological and actual lead. As the track dried and riders reacquainted themselves with the challenging Brands layout, the leading names at the top of the time sheets toppled each other with astonishing regularity, but only Corser endured. The 1996 champion put in one final lap to improve his previous best time of the day to 1’27.123. Corser’s team-mate Yukio Kagayama was fifth fastest, after a flurry of activity on the stopwatches demoted him from a likely second fastest time. A crash at the final corner ended his possibility to fight back to the top four.

LACONI CHALLENGES CONVENTION AS TOSELAND BUILDS UP The Ducati Xerox team members at Brands Hatch, Regis Laconi and James Toseland, had differing fortunes, with Laconi second and home boy Toseland eighth. Laconi, half a second from the best pace of provisional pole man Corser, is currently third in the championship fight, and has already won three races this season. Toseland, with a single Silverstone victory to his credit so far, is all out to improve on day two – and win on raceday in front of his adoring fans.

BRIT PRIDE LED BY YELLOW STREAK The sunflower hued PSG-1 Kawasaki of Chris Walker threatened to lead the lot on day one, but third place is still an impressive opening account for one of the most popular British riders in the history of the sport. His team-mate for this weekend, Pere Riba, was 16th as a stand in for regular pilot, Mauro Sanchini.

KARL CLIMBS ONTO THE TOP DECK, CHRIS STUCK ON SECOND FLOOR Winston Ten Kate Honda rider Karl Muggeridge, an SBK rookie in 2005, showed his Supersport pace of years gone by can be translated to the big capacity class, as he rode to a fourth best time - in what was a tough battle for times behind Corer. Chris Vermeulen was in a second row provisional starting position after the opening skirmishes at Brands, one of eight riders within one second of provisional pole.

YAMAHA PUSHES UP AS PITT TAKES SIXTH BEST TIME After his usual high work rate on day one Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) battled towards the front of the field, taking a time some 0.8 seconds from Corser; good enough for sixth fastest time on the sheets.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) winner of race two at Brno recently, was 12th, but could make vast improvements as he was the double race winner at Brands last season, when riding a Ducati. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) went 18th, on his first visit to the challenging Kentish track.

PRIVATE TEAMS HARD AT WORK Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda) slid into ninth on the timesheets, one place head of his own team-mate Max Neukirchner. Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji) was quick in the morning session, held in wet conditions, but on a largely dry track in the afternoon his machine and set-up gremlins returned to gently haunt him once more, albeit only to 15th place of 30. Lorenzo Lanzi (SC Ducati) was a disappointed man when finished his session 24th, one place behind his fellow rookie, Spaniard Fonsi Nieto (SC Caracchi Ducati). Marco Borciani (DFXtreme Sterilgarda Ducati) chased into 13th place, with fourth officially supported Yamaha rider, Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) 14th.

PETRONAS RIDERS IN CONTRASTING MOOD Steve Martin (Petronas) had an outstanding early part of the timed session, but slowly slipped to 11th place as the faster machines of most of his rivals eased away. Garry McCoy (Petronas) was 20th of the 30 riders on the qualifying lists, on his second visit to Brands Hatch.

WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Frenchman Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) turned the fastest track trick in the opening Supersport qualifying session, with a best lap of 1’29.174. It was so fast in relation to his peer group that he was 0.860 seconds ahead of the next best rider. A good track for the fast and stable Ducati machines, Brands allowed Gianluca Nannelli (SC Caracchi Ducati) to boom into second place, with former World Champion and Brands Hatch Supersport race winner Stephane Chambon (GIL Motorsport) third. The second Ten Kate Honda rider Katsuaki Fujiwara scored the final spot on the provisional grid, with one more qualifying session to go on Saturday.